Writings, pics, music, arts and difficult conversations

Real Football

What’s So Different About

This First World Cup in Africa?

As another FIFA World Cup is about to start, this time in South Africa, the first one to be held on that continent and the natural excitement the world’s most popular sport always generates, it’ll have very few differences from recent editions.
Once again, the host country has almost no chance of winning the competition, despite the exacerbated enthusiasm the home team usually entails. In its initial stages, the month long tournament will certainly produce the customary surprises and heartbreaking eliminations, and reveal some exceptional players no one had heard much of before that will galvanize games and fans alike.
But as the competition progresses, its natural contenders will emerge and the great majority of them, with little change, will be the same ones that find themselves in this position every time. It’s not fun to be warned about this, but chances are the country winner will have won the competition at least once before.
This edition may be considered a milestone because of its location but it won’t differ much in its organization, official languages spoken or expected attendance from others held at any other part of the globe.
Yes, it may not sell many tickets by credit cards or via Internet to Africans, for most of them still live under the poverty line and on the other side of the digital divide, Bill Gates and others’ initiatives not withstanding. But it’ll still sell gazillions of tickets and Johannesburg, for example, will certainly be invaded by a crowd outnumbering its own residents.
FIFA will profit handsomely from it as always, as it has from previous editions and even other competitions it organizes. As it expands and increases its participants, the Zurich-based organization knows a thing or two about globalization as a means to multiply business opportunities and create demand. It’s no wonder; FIFA’s shrewdness has helped it to keep a firm grip on the sport and its rules for over 100 years.
But for followers of football, as the sport is known the world over, these are the irrelevant tidbits of information that get completely, and justly, forgotten the moment the ball starts rolling. That’s when memories start to form, reputations are built or ruined forever, and the gods of the sport begin to hold their court.
May this be the World Cup to value artistry over competition, sportsmanship over drive, historical excellence over shortsighted expedience. And, as that old Beatle song goes, the time for great players and teams to challenge the world. But I honestly doubt it.

WILD HORSES

Harrowing Ride

Audio Portrait

East Village in the 80s through my answering machine. Greeting messages, friendly voices, a recorded ecstasy and many tongues were left on tape for me to remember. Now I'm sharing it all with you. Enjoy it.

World Cup
in S.Africa.
Remember?

Joyce's 'Ulysses'
as Graphic Novel

The illustration above is one of the plates of "Ulysses 'Seen,'" a high quality graphic adaptation by Robert Berry of James Joyce's masterpiece "Ulysses."
For those who never got around to read the long, uninterrupted, controversial June 16, 1904, conversation by Molly Bloom, Stephen Dedalus and others, that the great Irishman envisioned in Dublin, you won't have a better chance to do it.
And for those already familiar with the book form, it's another opportunity to appreciate this enduring work of literature through the eyes of a contemporary artist.
In either case, a few pints of Guinness to go along with it are absolutely optional.

EPITAPH

"Alone we are born, and die alone;
Yet see the red-gold cirrus
Over snow-mountain shine.
Upon the upland road
Ride easy, stranger:
Surrender to the sky
Your heart of anger."

FALSE ALARM

Desmodus

The Artist

Father & Son

Fireball Over Midwest Skies

COLL POLL

The Numbers Are In

Voting stations are closed at this time. The final tally was 13 votes in favor of Coll getting a cellphone and two against it.

MAY 19th IS COLL'S BIRTHDAY & HE WON!

This decision is final. Thank you all for participating. Coll's most heartfelt gratitude goes for the kind souls who voted in favor. For the two heartless hacks who were against it (you know who you are), a SWAP team graciously volunteered to pay you a visit first thing tomorrow morning. Stop by the front desk to request a waiver to present to your teacher, boss or dominatrix. Call your mother. Enroll in a charitable cause. Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen. Run to raise funds for Aids. This is our last broadcast. Please tune in for future promotions. This tape will self-destroy in five seconds. No further ado will come out of nothing. (5/19/2010)

MOTION

CLUTCH

Off-Key Note

Writings, pictures, videos, comments & more, edited by a writer, musician and world citizen living in downtown
New York City.
Acting gigs, a few screenplays and endless clashes with reality.
Brazilian by birth, multilingual by chance, cash strapped as usual.
Agnostic but partial to great soccer. Unmoved by sunsets, campaign speeches, the religious pull or any sure bet.Poor vision and lower back pain. A bottomless pit for a navel. Blue, cats, 9, left, heat and outer space.
Common ground needs not to apply. Not accepting advice at this time.

Naked City

“In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.”

Slideshow

LAST WORDS

* - "Let's do it."GARY GILMORE, executed by firing squad in Jan. 17, 1977, by the State of Utah, for murdering a model clerk. He was the last person to be executed in the U.S. in that fashion until June 18, 2010, when Ronnie Lee Gardner was shot to death also by Utah.

Norman Mailer wrote "The Executioner's Song," which he called a "true story," based on the relationship he established with Gilmore, a confessed killer, and the state of affairs of the U.S. in the 1970s. The book doesn't shy away from the horrific facts surrounding his murderous spree, but in a way it tones them down and shifts the focus to the society's possible role as a fertile ground for such deviant behavior.